Machine for fulling hosiery



(No Model.)

P. A. TANZER'.

MAUHINB FOR PULLING HOSIERY.

No. 513,600. Patented Jan. 30,1894,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. TANZER, OF PORTAGE, \VISCONSIN.

MACHINE FOR FULLING HOSIERY.

v SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 513,600, dated January 30, 1894.

Application filed February 23, 1893. Serial No. 463,407. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. TANZER, of Portage, in the county of Columbia and State of Wisconsin, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Machines for Fulling Ilosiery, of which the following is a descriptron, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, which are a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is an improved machine for fulling hosiery, by which hosiery capable of being fulled is with less manual labor, more quickly, evenly, thoroughly and satisfactorily fulled, than has heretofore been accomplished.

The invention consists in the devices hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is an end elevation of my improved machine, a portion being broken away to show interior construction.

Fig. 2, is a side view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, the drum being broken away and shown mostly in central, vertical section.

In fulling hosiery it is important that the hosiery be separated to some extent from the mass, and that it be somewhat spread out or distended, so as to come in contact quite thoroughly and evenly with live steam, while concurrently or intermittingly the hosiery is being beaten and shaken, to assist the process of fulling. For this purpose I use a hollow cylinder or drum A of considerable diameter, conveniently six feet or more, and preferably of such limited length, say three feet, as will admit only such a mass or supply of hosiery as can be satisfactorily fulled at one time. This drum has no central projecting axle or journals, but is supported and is rotated by contact with flanged wheels 13 B and B B preferably constructed of paper, which wheels in pairs are fast on axles O O respectively, the axles being journaled in suitable boxes fixed on the frame D. The axles O and C are at a distance apart, on opposite sides of a vertical plane through the axis of the drum the axle 0" being preferably journaled in a plane somewhat higher than the plane of the axle C. Flat iron bands or hoops E about the drum serve as a hearing or trend for the travel of the wheels B B against the drum. Other hoops E E assist to bind the drum together. The flanges of the wheels extending alongside the ends of the drum serve as guides to retain the drum in position on the wheels. The weight of the drum and its load produce a sufficient frictional contact of the drum with the wheels to cause it to re volve when the wheels are rotated. The wheels are rotated by the belt F running on the pulley of a driving shaft G and on pulleys on the axles C and C respectively. A door 1-1 in the end of the drum at one side of its axis provides a means for putting a supply of hosiery into and removing it from the drum, and also for introducing a limited supply of water into the drum, for the purpose of washing or rinsing the hosiery. An orificeI in the periphery of the drum permits of the drawing off of the water therefrom. A series of ribs K longitudinally of the drum project on the inside from the shell or periphery of the drum inwardly radially. These ribs are adapted to gather the mass of hosiery in the drum at the bottom and carry it upwardly as the drum revolves to near the top of the drum, from which position the hosiery is discharged, the construction of the ribs and the motion of the drum being such as to separate to a considerable extent the individual pieces of the hosiery from the mass and to fling it off from these ribs in individual pieces or small masses in such manner that the small mass and in dividual pieces are shaken out and distended in falling from the upper to the lower part of the drum, being thus in all its parts individually and collectively brought in contact with the steam or heated air in the drum;

also as the hosiery falls thus from a considerable height to the bottom of the rapidly revolving drum, it comes at the bottom of the drum again in contact with the ribs moving laterally at that point, by which means the M provides for shutting 0d the supply of steam.

To provide for supplying the drum with soap or water, if desired, and also to permit of examination of the hosiery either by sight or otherwisegwhile the drum is revolving a glazed door N mounted and sliding in ways closes an axial aperture in the front end of the drum. By this means either by looking through the glass of the door or by moving the door aside the interior of the drum can be examined, while it revolves, without delaying the Work.

In use it is common to supply the drum with a quantity of hosiery through the door H, and if it is desired to wash the hosiery, with sufficient water therefor, and soap if need be, and thereupon setting the drum in motion whereby the hosiery will be suitably cleansed, and thereupon the water is drawn off through the orifice 1. Following this a limited supply of steam is admitted to the drum through the pipe L, and the drum is again set in motion whereby the hosiery is repeatedly elevated and so separated and distended as to fall through the moist or steamladen air in the drum to the bottom, where it is struck or beaten by the ribs passing at that point laterally at substantially a right angle to the falling motion of the hosiery. This process is continued until the fulling is completed, which is ascertained or determined by examination through the glazed or open door N.

I have described my machine as adapted for fulling hosiery, for which the machine is especially adapted, but the machine may be its ends, one of which heads is provided with a central glazed aperture, and a radially distant aperture closed by a door, and wheels arranged to support the drum peripherally and rotate it, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a closed cylindrical drum, wheels arranged in pairs on the frame bearing against the periphery of the drum and adapted to support and rotate the drum, a pipe for steam leading to and discharging into the drum at its head axially, a glazed door covering removably a central aperture in the head of the drum opposite the steam pipe, and another door closing an aperture in the head of the drum at one side of the axis, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK A. TANZER.

Witnesses:

A. J. EASTMAN, ALFRED HOLMES. 

